Domestic violence is more than an NFL issue

Editorial by Rocky Mount Telegram, September 25, 2014.

If there is one positive outcome of the NFL’s high-profile domestic violence cases, it has been a long overdue discussion of relationships and abusive behavior.

In classrooms, at the water cooler, at dinner tables and everywhere else, it seems, ordinary people are speaking their minds about a terrible scourge that some experts say affects about a third of all women and a quarter of all men in the United States.

It’s a shame it took the graphic brutality of the Ray Rice video to start the conversation. But now that the subject has been broached, perhaps more people will look for ways to help victims escape abusive relationships. And raising awareness, we can only hope, might stop abusive situations before they begin.

N.C. Wesleyan College took an important step forward in that effort this week, hosting a campuswide forum on relationship violence. As Telegram correspondent Brittany Jennings reported, a big challenge in tackling the problem is the high number of cases that go unreported.

On average, one panelist at the Wesleyan forum said, it takes a victim seven tries to successfully leave an abusive relationship.

That won’t change overnight. But continuing the dialogue long after the spotlight has turned away from Rice and other athletes can help reverse a horrible threat to American families and couples.

Let’s remember that during the months that follow football season, as well.

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/opinion/our-views/domestic-violence-more-nfl-issue-2664075